Stories are all about the emotional connection they build. From infancy to toddlerhood, until the day we die, our hearts rise and fall with the heroes in our favorite stories.
That's why stories are such power-packed marketing tools when properly deployed. When your brand uses storytelling to convey a message, it bypasses the head and goes straight into the heart.
Brand Storytelling is "Using a narrative to connect your brand to customers, with a focus on linking what you stand for to the core values you share with your customers". It is YOUR WHY....
Telling the right stories to the right customers requires that you find out who your target consumers are. Do research; conduct surveys; use data from social media, website visitors, and on those who purchase your products and services.
After you have that information, tell the kinds of stories that will tug at your customers' heartstrings. Map your stories to their buyer's journey.
In times past, you would have had to spend a fortune to tailor marketing messages—your brand stories—to all the segments of your target customer pool. Today, with the availability of YouTube, blog posts, and other low-cost, high-impact marketing messages at an all-time high, you can create personalized content–stories that speak to every single customer in your market.
Here are some steps to create a powerful brand story -
1. Use your history -
Three Steps to Write a Great Brand Story:
Take a notepad and write your past, present, and future story. The story of your company and brand starts with the founder and why he or she started the business in the first place. Spare no detail, and write this story from the beginning as a historical account.
Money is a by product of providing more value, and simply having a goal of making more money cannot be a goal or a vision.
As famous author Simon Sinek says ,"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."
This is why your brand needs to create clear vision and mission statements.It drives every decision you make, the culture and value of your organisation/business.
Here are some key questions that will help you build your story -
1.When did you start ?
2.How did you start ?
3.Who were the people involved with you when you started on your entrepreneurial journey ?
4.2 or 3 interesting incidents from your journey
5.Successful milestone achieved
6.Challenges faced and how did you overcome them ?
7.Where do you see yourself and your clinic in 5 years ?
8.Philosophy in Life - Your Why ?
2. Develop a statement, to sum up why you do what you do.
In the most simplest terms, the mission is the “what” and the “how” and the vision is the “why”.
The mission describes what an organisation does and includes tangible goals while the vision clarifies the direction it is going.
Effective vision and mission statements will bring a sense of clarity to your brand and bring clarity in every decision you make.A lot of times, participants building their brand story often ask me this question," But I'm just starting my clinic and I'm only two or three years into practice?" To this my answer is, “Its a journey, and eventually you will find out.” But if you don't take the time to put your thoughts and ideas on paper and consciously think about these things, it will never come to you"
Thats why creating, writing and sharing your brand story is one of the most powerful activity in your branding journey.
Whether you are a massive organisation or a solopreneur,you can use the mission and vision statements to gain clarity and ensure that you consistently make decisions in line with your ultimate goals.
It goes beyond the money you want to earn and sets an ideal future to reach for, driven by values. It asks, "Why are we here?" and "How are we making the world a better place?" By answering these questions, you find the seed from which you'll build your statement.
Having read and researched about some of the biggest brands and what makes them so, here are few short examples.
Disney - To make people happy.
Nike - Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.( If you have a body you are an athlete & Nike makes each of its customers feel so )
Apple - To make personal computing accessible to each and every individual so as to help change the way we think, work,learn,and communicate.
Facebook - To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
If you ever visited Disney or have seen any Nike adverts on social media, you can literally feel these statements in each and every thing these brands do.
What you do, how you do and why you do it - Bringing this down to just a few words or a just a couple of sentences is what you want to create.
3. Now write a story around that statement.
The statement you created in step two becomes the starting point for what will become your brand story, and you'll write a one-page document to support it. A great brand story is succinct and tells the narrative of your brand, including where you've come from and where you are going. A great brand story must be true, authentic, and honest.
A well written brand story can be used in the “ About Me “ section of your website or if you get featured in any publications or magazines or media.It tells your story to your patients or customers in a way that instantly makes an emotional connection with you.
A shorter version of this can be used in the “ bio “ section of all your social media handles and is a very powerful tool to instantly describe your what, how, who and why.
Once you write your brand story, share it with some of your friends or even strangers for that matter, and see the instant powerful emotional connect they feel with you and your brand.
Thats why someone rightly said …"There is no greater power on this earth than Story …"
P.S - if you want to learn the Art of Personal Branding Realtime -Consider Joining the Branding Bootcamp 2024
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About the Author -
Meet the visionary of dental marketing innovation - Dr. Anisa, Your Social Dentist and founder of Anisa Your Social Dentist. With expertise seamlessly intertwined with a passion for authentic connections in the dental industry, Dr. Anisa envisions dentistry as a canvas for storytelling and personal branding.
Embark on a transformative journey with Dr. Anisa, where dental marketing becomes a narrative woven with threads of trust, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to redefining patient experiences. Join Dr. Anisa in shaping a future where dental practices thrive as beacons of genuine connection in an increasingly digital world.